Top Ten Tuesday: Have you heard what they are saying about Margaret?

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Book Titles That Describe Me/My Life (Example titles: Well Traveled could describe you if you like to travel, Hotshot Doc could describe you if you’re an awesome doctor, Falling into Place could describe a life where things are starting to work out, An Infinite Love Story could describe your relationship, It Could Have Been Her could describe a thing you’re happy you avoided or a path you could have taken but didn’t. You can explain your choices or not, and they can be as specific or as abstract as you’d like.) (Submitted by Susan @ blogginboutbooks.com)

I am taking a simpler approach to this topic by sharing authors/books/characters with my name! Let's start with authors I have read whose name is either Margaret or similar/derivative to Margaret

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble

Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George

My Lady of Cleves by Margaret Campbell Barnes

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

And then move onto others

Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan

Summer in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

Are you there God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

I couldn't resist including the last two. The reason for the first is likely obvious, but the second not so much. The main female character in North and South is called Margaret. And my post title is a paraphrase of a line that comes from absolutely fantastic mini-series adaptation of the book!

Top Ten Tuesday: Author sisters

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Things Characters Have Said (Maybe a character said something really profound or romantic or hilarious or heartbreaking. You could share witty one-liners, mic-drop moments, snippets of funny dialogue between multiple characters, catchphrases, quotes that have become a part of pop culture–like “May the odds be ever in your favor.”, etc.)

I always struggle with TTT when the theme is about quotes as they are just not something I keep an eye out for, so I am going to go back to an old post I have had in draft for a while. I originally put this post together when the theme was Relationship Freebie (Pick a relationship type and choose characters who fit that relationship as it relates to you. So, characters you’d like to date, be friends with, be enemies with, etc. Bookish families you’d like to be a part of, characters you’d want as your siblings, pets you’d like to take for yourself, etc.), but I didn't get to post it at the time. I think we were away.

I previously did a post featuring the word sisters in the title, so this time I am going to share some authors who are sisters! Let's start with some Australian author sisters:

Liane, Jaclyn and Nicola Moriarty - Whilst Liane is probably the most famous of the Moriarty sisters, Jaclyn and Nicola have also been writing successfully for a long time. Jaclyn writes more in the YA space and Nicola more women's fiction. My favourite book by a Moriarty is probably Paper Chains by Nicola.

Back in 2012 I did a Q and A with Jaclyn Moriarty and asked about the fact that all three of them were writers and this is what she said

Both of our parents are enthusiastic story tellers. We are always saying to Mum, ‘Give us the short version’, and Dad is always advising, ‘Never spoil a good story with the facts’. We had shelves full of books to read when we were kids. Also, instead of giving us pocket money, Dad would commission us to write stories. So I guess we grew up thinking it was the only way to make money.

Here's my review of A Corner of White (it's actually a joint review with Shelleyrae from Book'd Out which I had completely forgotten we did together), and a quote about doing Tim Tam Slams from Free-Falling by Nicola Moriarty

Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell - Kate Forsyth is one of my favourite Australian authors, even though I haven't managed to fit in any of her books for quite some time! She writes amazing fairy-tale retellings, is an awesome guest speaker and avid read. Her sister, Belinda Murrell, writes kids books. Interestingly, their great-great-great grandmother, Charlotte Waring Atkinson, wrote Australia's first children's book. Pretty amazing historical connection!

Here's my review of Bitter Greens. 

A S Byatt and Margaret Drabble - Whilst these two are sisters, they were estranged for many years .A S Byatt is best known for the book Possession and the book I remember reading from Margaret Drabble is The Red Queen. Here is my review.

Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte - It feels like it would be wrong to have a list of literary sister authors and not include the Brontes who have give us books like Jane Eyre, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey. They also published a book of poetry under the names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

Do you know of any other famous authors who are sisters?

The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble

This is this month's book for one of my book clubs.

'When I was a little child, I pined for a red silk skirt'

So begins The Red Queen - the tale of how a young girl in eighteenth century Korea is plucked from obscurity to be consort to the Crown Prince. Though inhabiting a jade, silk and jewelled world, the Crown Princess must also contend with the murderous impulses of her husband Sado who is touched by madness.

Two hundred years later, the Crown Princess's story has a deep and far-reaching effect on Dr Babs Halliwell, an academic on her way to a conference in South Korea. Haunted by the Red Queen's ghost, Babs feels that she must do something to keep her story alive...but what is it?

This is a classic case of being attracted to a book by it's cover. The one at the top of this post was the one that I ended up getting, but when it first came out the cover below is the one that was used, and everytime I walked past the book on the shelves I would stop and look at it, and think about buying it! I held off too long and ended up with the less exciting cover! Oh well!

The novel is rather strange in its format. It is made up of three parts. The first is labelled Ancient times, the second, Modern Times and then the third is Postmodern times. There are no other breaks in the novel - no chapter breaks at all which I don't really like. The main reason for not liking this format is because when I am reading, particularly at night, I like to set myself goals, for example one more chapter or when I get to the end of chapters divisible by 5 or whatever. They make for natural breaks to put the books down at and when they are not there I can't help but feel that I would start at the wrong point.

It is also rather strange in terms of the perspective. We first meet the Crown Princess when she is in the form of a ghost like creation, having been dead for over 200 years but she is speaking from current times so there are references to events that have happened both in her actual life and then references to things that she has learned since she was dead, including to compare herself with others from her time like Catherine the Great of Russia.

She tells us of her beginnings - the book blurb above suggests from obscurity - as the daughter of government officials it may have been a surprise that she was chosen as the bride of the Crown Prince but it wasn't completely unexpected. However, instead of getting more freedom as a member of royalty, she instead moves into a world of luxury where her movements are restricted more than she would have expected. She is married to Crown Prince Sado at 9 years of age, but the two children spend the first several years playing together, but eventually the marriage is consumated and life settles into a pattern - a pattern that is dictated by the King's whims and favours, with that position changing continuously. After her first child dies, it becomes clear that all is not well with her husband though and as time progresses it becomes more and more obvious, until he becomes murderous and rebellious leading to terrible consequences.

When we get to the second part of the novel, Dr Babs Halliwell is travelling to South Korea to give a talk to a medical conference. She too knows something of having a mentally unstable husband, of losing a child and other correlations that are drawn between the two major characters. Babs reads the story of the Crown Princess whilst on the plane and is fascinated by the story. After a mix up with her suitcase, Babs meets an expat Korean doctor who then acts as her guide and takes her to the palaces where the Princess would have lived. She also meets the main speaker for the conference, Dutchman Jan van Jost, and begins an unlikely relationship and brings about another unlikely relationship with far reaching consequences for her life.

The Crown Princess's main aim during the book is to have her story told, to continue to keep people aware of her life, and so there is a feeling that there are almost spirits guiding Babs towards all different actions. Towards the end though the Crown Princess begins to think that she has chosen her vessel unwisely, but in the Postmodern section the novel takes a twist that brings the aim to its conclusion. This was however done in a way that I found quite strange. I've just realised that I can't change the colour so that this is blank so just be aware that this is a spoiler below.

*****SPOILER BELOW*****

The author inserts herself into the story, becoming friends with Babs, and thus being introduced to the story of the Crown Princess and I guess getting the inspiration to write this novel. I can't think of many other novels where the author becomes almost a character in the story and to be frank I found it quite disturbing.

*****End SPOILER*****

Overall this was an interesting story about a place that I have very little awareness about.

Rating 3.5/5